lunedì, dicembre 03, 2012

Before Iraq was
conquered by the Arabs in the seventh century, it was one of the oldest
centers of Christianity in the world. Even after the Arab conquest,
Christians made up a sizable minority of the population – sometimes
tolerated, sometimes persecuted, but always surviving.
Now it's facing its biggest threat in centuries.
The Christian Community in Iraqis a lot smaller than it was in 2003 when the Coalition invaded. During
the occupation, radical Muslims claimed the Christians were helping the
invaders and used this as an excuse to attack them. Churches and shops
were bombed and individual Christians were murdered or told to leave on
pain of death.
In an interview with the BBC, the priest at St Joseph's Chaldean Church in Baghdadsaid that in the past nine years his parish has shrunk from 1,200 families to 300. TheNew York Times
reports that before the war the Christian population was estimated to
be as high as 1.4 million, and has now dropped to less than 500,000.
I met few Christians in my 17 days in Iraq other than some shopkeepers and the owners of a liquor store when I went on abeer run in Basra.
I was anxious to see some of the early medieval centers of Christianity
that make the country so important to Church history. The Christian
community in Iraq is splintered into more than a dozen different
churches, including the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syrian Orthodox
Church, the Syrian Catholic Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and
many more. Many of their rites and beliefs are from a markedly different
religious tradition than what we are familiar with in the West.Above is a photo of the entrance to Mar Mattai monastery, run by the
Syrian Orthodox Church. Located in Kurdistan in the far north of the
country, it sits on the slopes of Mt. Maqloub. It was founded in 363
A.D. by the Saint Mar Mattai and is thus one of the oldest monasteries
in existence.Much of the monastery is modern, with a few crumbling ruins dotting the
slopes to hint at its long history. The assistant abbot welcomed us in
careful, practiced English and told us how the saint converted Prince
Behnam and Princess Sarah from paganism to Christianity. Sarah had been
suffering from leprosy and was miraculously cured after her conversion.When
their father King Senchareb found out, he had them put to death. He
soon regretted his act, became a Christian himself, and as penance built
Mar Behnam Monastery.

This monastery is much better preserved. Its stone interior is
intricately carved in the style of the Atabek Emirate, which lasted from
the 11th to the 13th centuries before being wiped out by the Mongols.
The style is a strange one: a sort of mix of Turkish design with
Christian symbolism and elements from ancient Assyrian art. See thegallery for some images, and there are moreat this site.St. Behnam monastery survived the Mongol invasion and even managed to
make a few converts. Some of the inscriptions in the crypt are in
Mongolian.
Walking
through these two monasteries I could feel the absence left by the
departure of so many from the community. We saw almost no one, and the
monasteries felt more like museums than places of worship. Perhaps we
just went on quiet days. Both are centers for pilgrimage, though, so I
was hoping to meet and talk with pilgrims like I had at the Shia holy places. But it was not to be.
While the situation for Christians, indeed all Iraqis, has calmed down
considerably in the past couple of years, the persecutions continue.
Iraq has broken down along sectarian lines, with Sunni and Shia Muslims
fighting it out and Christians being targeted by radical Muslims.
Being such a small minority, it's difficult for the Christian community
to defend itself. Government soldiers and police guard churches and
monasteries, and man checkpoints at the edges of Christian
neighborhoods, but as with sectarian attacks against Muslims, the
terrorists often find a way to hit their targets.
There's hope, though. As we studied the inscriptions in the crypt of St.
Behnam's monastery, I noticed our guide and one of our guards, both
Muslims, lighting candles. I went over to the guide, who I knew to be a
devout Shia, and asked him why he was lighting candles in a Christian
holy spot."In my office there are a lot of Christian women. They asked me to light
candles for them," he replied as if it were the most natural thing in
the world.
This man, who went off to pray every time we visited a mosque, saw no
conflict with his faith in doing this or with working with Christian
women. If his tolerance can become common enough to push out the
intolerant radicals, the Christian community in Iraq may survive after
all.

Don't miss the rest of Sean McLachlan's series, "Destination: Iraq,"chronicling his 17-day journey across this strife-ridden country in search of adventure, archaeology and AK-47s.